Funny conversation at state USTA finals.

Played in the state USTA finals this weekend. It was combo doubles. The other guys were very nice, they were good sports, and they beat us. (Ugh.) I thought this was funny for a team that made it to state finals. Here was the conversation at the start of the match.

Me: "You won the spin, what do you want to do?"

Other: "You can serve to us from the shady side."

Me: "You can pick serve or side, but you can't pick both."

Other: "What? I never heard that before."

Me: "You only get to pick one. You can choose who serves first, or you can choose which side you want." (I know, they can defer too, but I didn't say that.)

Knowing now that we lost a very close match, that's exactly what we should have done. They were clearly trying to prevent their big server from serving toward the sun. He, like me, probably had little experience playing at midday and serving into the sun.